Rather than saying trust is expensive, I would express it as trust is precious. By analogy, sunlight and air are cheap, not expensive, even though we can't liv

Rather than saying trust is expensive, I would express it as trust is precious. By analogy, sunlight and air are cheap, not expensive, even though we can't live without them. If either of these were in short supply they would become extremely expensive. But since they're abundant we don't normally dwell on their value. In a civilized society with a stable government, we take trust for granted. That's how society is able to build skyscrapers and shipping terminals and air travel. If society collectively loses trust in itself, we will lose these nice things. Trust is a feature of living in a liberal democracy. Autocracies may manage it too, but their historical record is questionable. So trust is precious, but I wouldn't express it as trust is expensive because it creates far more value than it costs.